Electronic gaming machines (EGMs) that provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. These EGMs generally require a player to place a wager to activate a play of the primary game. For many of these EGMs, any award provided to a player for a wagered-on play of a primary game is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or a winning symbol combination and on an amount of the wager (e.g., the higher the amount of the wager, the higher the award). Winning symbols or winning symbol combinations that are less likely to occur typically result in higher awards being provided when they do occur.
For such known EGMs, an amount of a wager placed on a primary game by a player may vary. For instance, an EGM may enable a player to wager a minimum quantity of credits, such as one credit (e.g., one penny, nickel, dime, quarter, or dollar), up to a maximum quantity of credits, such as five credits. The EGM may enable the player to place this wager a single time or multiple times for a single play of the primary game. For instance, an EGM configured to operate a slot game may have one or more paylines, and the EGM may enable a player to place a wager on each of the paylines for a single play of the slot game. Thus, it is known that an EGM, such as one configured to operate a slot game, may enable players to place wagers of substantially different amounts on each play of a primary game. For example, the amounts of the wagers may range from one credit up to 125 credits (e.g., five credits on each of twenty-five separate paylines). This is also true for other wagering games, such as video draw poker, in which players can place wagers of one or more credits on each hand, and in which multiple hands can be played simultaneously. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that different players play at substantially different wager amounts or levels and substantially different rates of play.
Bonus or secondary games are also known in EGMs. Such EGMs usually provide an award to a player for a play of one such bonus game in addition to any awards provided for any plays of any primary games. Bonus games usually do not require an additional wager to be placed by the player to be initiated. Bonus games are typically initiated or triggered upon an occurrence of a designated triggering symbol or designated triggering symbol combination in the primary game. For instance, an EGM may initiate or trigger a bonus game when a bonus symbol occurs on the payline on the third reel of a three reel slot machine. The EGM generally indicates when a bonus game is initiated or triggered through one or more visual and/or audio output devices, such as the reels, lights, speakers, display screens, etc. Part of the enjoyment and excitement of playing certain EGMs is the initiation or triggering of a bonus game, even before the player knows an amount of a bonus award won via the bonus game.
In most jurisdictions, primary wagering games of EGMs are games of chance, not games of skill. For instance, in an EGM configured to operate a slot game, a player must place a wager on the slot game to initiate a play of the slot game, and the EGM randomly determines a winning outcome or a losing outcome for the slot game. The determined outcome determines whether the EGM provides the player an award according to a paytable associated with the slot game.
One reason EGMs and, in particular, EGMs configured to operate slot games, are popular is because an amateur, novice, or inexperienced player can play most slot games at the player's own pace. Such slot games require no special skills, strategy development or implementation, or risk evaluation. Thus, inexperienced players can perform as well as seasoned or experienced players at these slot games.
Certain EGMs configured to operate games such as video poker and video blackjack involve certain player strategy or decision-making. For instance, the player decides which cards to hold in a draw-type video poker game and whether to take additional cards in a video blackjack-type card game. These games generally require the player to develop and implement a certain level of strategy for the player to be successful. Some bonus games require a player to risk an award won for a chance to achieve a higher award. These games also can generally be said to require a player to implement a certain level of strategy for the player to be successful.
Certain other bonus games also involve skill, apparent skill, or pseudo skill. In certain of these bonus games, any awards are generally randomly determined. The player's participation in the skill, apparent skill, or pseudo skill event may, for instance, determine the timing of when the EGM provides the player an award. In another known EGM, the player's skill determines which set or pool of awards will be used to determine the award the EGM eventually provides to the player. The processor of the EGM randomly determines an award from the determined set or pool of awards to provide to the player.
In other jurisdictions, wagering games of EGMs are required to involve a skill event, such as an event requiring player dexterity, to be successful. These games cannot turn purely upon a random outcome. These EGMs thus require strategy implementation or timing of inputs by the player to determine chance of success and failure. If the player does not play optimally, the actual payout percentage of the EGM will decrease accordingly.
Skill games are generally interactive and are enjoyable for certain people to play. Many people have grown accustomed to, and comfortable with, playing skill games at arcades; on dedicated video gaming devices; on handheld video gaming devices; on various computing devices such as desktop computing devices, laptop computing devices, and tablet computing devices; on mobile devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants; over data networks such as LAN networks, WAN networks, and the Internet; and the like. Some of these people who are accustomed to playing such skill or partial skill games may not want to play games of chance on conventional EGMs where the outcomes of the games are based on randomly generated outcomes and involve little or no skill. Some of these people also enjoy the competitive nature of skill games, which is not provided by conventional wagering games.
Wagering games that are purely skill games or are partial skill games present certain problems for game designers and gaming establishments. For instance, skill games can be mastered by players having a high level of skill, substantial practice, or both. To combat the mastering of such games and to make the economics work, a game designer may have to make the skill game relatively difficult. The difficulty level may be too great for inexperienced or average players to have a sufficient level of success and enjoyment while playing the games. Such players may not have a good gaming experience and may not repeat play on the EGMs.
There is a continuing need to provide new and different gaming systems and methods that provide skill-based games and that cater to highly skilled players while still accommodating lesser skilled players.